BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Exercise Burn more fat with carb cycling

Carb cycling trains your body to tap into fat stores and speeds up both weight loss and fatloss results. It's also simple, allows you to eat more of the foods you love and can be combined with fatloss workouts for even better results.

Check out my Carb Cycling Diet guide to learn more about all the different types of carb cycling diet plans and to check out pics of the evil trainer who taught me this amazing fat burning system.

I've been carb cycling for 10 days now and the results are pretty amazing. This is my third time carb cycling and my first time using Wendy Chant's Carb Cycling Plan which is very different from other carb cycling diets I've used before.

My scale weight for the past 10 days has been 120 lb. (it always hovers around here) but this isn't what matters bcz with carb cycling you are 100% focused on quality fatloss meaning you don't want to lose any lean muscle while dropping bodyfat. In fact if I could maintain my weight and lose 4-5% bodyfat that would be awesome but I know my body and that is not what will happen (in other words unlike other fitness people I won't gain muscle on this plan, some people do).

I can already tell that I've lost at least 1% bodyfat. I can see it! I don't need calipers or a bodyfat monitor to know and the tape measure and my jeans are confirming this too. I did measure on the Omron and the numbers are all over the place so definitely need to look into buying my own calipers so I don't have to keep asking the trainers at work to measure me.

The goal for the next 4 weeks is to lose 4-5% bodyfat without losing inches on my hips and with a minimal drop in weight. Then stay on the plan for 4 more weeks and see how much further I can drop. I have not decided whether to continue intermittent fasting at this point. I almost did yesterday but maybe it would be a better fit during weeks 3-5 of this plan.

Will keep posting carb cycling updates each week. Check out my carb cycling diet page to learn more about all the plans.

Dear Monica -

I'd definitely love to hear updates on how this works for you. It is so true that it's important to hold onto muscle mass while losing those fat deposits!

What type of exercise are you doing this week? I just bought myself a step unit so I can do step exercises and not hammer on our poor actual inside-the-house steps Right now I hear "squeak squeak" when I go up and down on the first step towards the second floor.

I post all my workouts weekly in the exercise forum. The post is called what are your workouts (I think) but basically I do HIIT five days a week, I do mobility and flexibility daily and I also do some cardio 2-3 times a week (if I'm run down I only do cardio 1 x per week).

I used to love the stepper back in the 90's but now I just prefer outdoor cardio (hills sprints, stair sprints, hiking, and bootcamp cardio).

I'm actually going to post about setting lifetime goals for both weight and bodyfat.

My personal lifetime goals for weight are 120 lb. or less and my bodyfat goals are fitness range year round and athlete range 1-2 times per year.

I think most people don't see their body stats as being flexible but they really should be. This gives you more freedom with diet and the type of workouts you do year round.

I've been dancing since I was 3 and working out consistently since I was 15 so it would be just silly to think there will be no ups and downs. People need to learn how to be more flexible with their eating, their workout, and their body stats too : )

Today is carb up day!

Just had eggs with potatoes, green chilis, and greek yogurt and a small flaky dinner roll.

Lunch is probably going to be a green smoothie made with vanilla yogurt, banana, spinach, chocolate whey protein powder, and peanut butter (all organic ingredients and no low fat anything).

Snack will probably be a chai latte from Starbcks (my son keeps asking for donuts so I might have 1 bite of whatever he gets)

Dinner will be huge salad (greens, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, celery, cucumbers, avocado, green beans, onions) plus 1/2 cup rice or pasta and 3 oz. of some type of protein (not sure what we have), plus 1 square of dark chocolate.

I love carb up day but the next day it always feels good to get back to less food. I still wish I could eat fruit every day but being able to have 1 starchy carb at breakfast or lunch on carb down days makes up for it.

Definitely working out at a slightly higher intensity today and drinking tons of water so I don't go overboard with carb portions.

Weight is now down to 118.5 lb. from 120.5 lb. 10 days ago. Doesn't take long for my body to lose all the false weight when I make any changes to my diet the true test of success will be my bodyfat measurement next week.

That is awesome news Monica, congratulations!

Thanks for the details!

Went overboard with carb up day yesterday! I had my 1 square of dark chocolate after the breakfast I posted (weird) and still had my smoothie after I worked out around 4 except we had no spinach so I left that out and cut down on the pb too.

Also I skipped the Starbucks chai latte and instead had 1/2 a donut and a couple of handful of buffalo ranch Doritos with a glass of water. Believe it or not the chai latte with whole milk (which is something I get for a treat once a week) is more calories than the junk food (315 calories vs. 1/2 a glazed doughnut at 92 calories and doritos at 140 calories.

And yes I only ate half a doughnut. I often do this in front of family (with b-day cakes and other junk) and they always ask how I do this. The answer is simple. 10 bites of a doughnut or other junk doesn't taste better than 3 bites. It just doesn't make it better or fill you up either so why keep eating it. I had the junk food about 90 min. post workout and post smoothie which is the best time to eat garbage food (on carb up day only). For dinner I still had a huge salad but my son and I made lean ground beef burgers with cheese and served them on those flaky dinner rolls with extra lettuce.

Low carb day is the complete opposite of this. You get one starchy carb at breakfast and that is all. The rest of the day you eat 2-3 oz of protein 4-5 times a day and nothing but veggies (no fruit, no nuts, no sugar, no starches, no alcohol, no cheating of any kind). My week looks like this:

monday low carb
tuesday low carb
wednesday high carb
thursday low carb
friday low carb
saturday high carb
sunday baseline (not low but not high either)

On low carb days I'm usually hungry at night. I feel hungry most of the day, I go to bed hungry and I wake up because my stomach is growling. Hunger is something many people are no longer familiar with and it isn't as uncomfortable or as life threatening as most of those eat 6 times a day or you'll die diets suggest. Most Americans probably have enough fat stored in their bodies to survive for 6 months without food (alright I'm exaggerating).

Anyway, thanks to anybody who is following my carb cycling journal and not judging what I do. I like to experiment with diets. I always have. I've also always been fit and not overweight (except those 18 months post pregnancy when I couldn't lose the 30 pounds) so experimenting with my diet is easier for me than it would be for somebody who has always struggled with food and weight issues. I would not recommend this diet to people who need to learn how to eat sensibly. I would recommend carb cycling to anybody who eats healthy 80% of the time and is fit and looking to lose some extra fat the easy way.

BTW, my workout yesterday kicked a** I worked out so hard I was sweating buckets and my legs were shaking after the workout.

So today is officially day 15 of carb cycling and I'm so over it already. I noticed yesterday that even though I've been working out hard and following this diet to the letter and seeing the results of the work I've also been feeling extra tired, hungry most of the time, and kind of irritable (usually not much gets to me and even when it does, I vent and then I'm over it but this persistent irritability is not cool).

I know it has 100% to do with the fact that I'm depleting carbs 4 days per week and my body is not loving this. I'm a carb type so I thrive on carbs. When I eat carbs several times a day every day I feel super energized, happy, and just high on life. Right now I just want to kick something or somebody. I've heard bodybuilders who are leaning out say that this is part of the process and you get used to it. I think not!

I don't know how low carbers who are carb types do it. This is the feeling that I mentioned in the low carb forum that low carb people say they just don't understand but I know plenty of them feel it too. Many of my low carb clients who are not protein types have told me how horrible they feel when they low carb.

Protein types on the other hand feel like I feel when I eat tons of carbs daily. So the dilema is to continue for another 6 weeks after Sunday or find another fatloss diet that allows strategic cheating. I kind of feel like I should endure the torture just to see the end result.

Last two times I carb cycled I did it for 3 weeks max but this time I really want to see how low I can get my bodyfat so not sure what to do at this point. Starve and be angry for 6 more weeks to get ultra lean or go back to 90/10 healthy eating and intermittent fasting weekly.

This is definitely not the most important thing in my life but it's kind of tied to something that is very important to me so it's a complicated decision.

Hi, I'm just curious. How tall are you? How much fat can your body have @ 120 lbs? I'm 135 lbs, down from 142 lbs. I run up to 5 miles three times a week. I stretch sometimes twice a day, I do some fun ab workouts. I have a blog on how to get six pack abs. I dance a least once a week. I eat what I want, chicken, salads, fish, fruits, all type of nuts and ice cream, I love ice cream...!! I will be stopping by from time to time to see how you're progressing and to get some food ideas. I know I'm not eating right, work in process. Thanks... Positivep

Before I answer that, here is a bodyfat chart:

Bodyfat Chart for Women
Essential 10�13%
Athletes 14�20%
Fitness 21�24%
Average 25�31%
Obese 32%+

Bodyfat Chart for Men
Essential 2�5%
Athletes 6�13%
Fitness 14�18%
Average 18�24%
Obese 25%+

When I tend to be very careless and I'm talking very careless with my diet my weight stays the same as always 120 lb. (I'm 5'3 3/4") but my bodyfat shoots up to 23%. By very careless I mean instead of an 80/20 ratio of healthy food/junk I go 60/40 healthy food/junk. I do this every couple summers for some reason. As you can see 23% is still in the fitness range but not exactly where I prefer to be. If you are curious to see what I look like you can visit my free workouts site or my youtube channel and watch my videos.

I really do prefer to be about 19-20%. That is where I feel the best. I am officially two weeks into carb cycling and am confident that I will lose 3% bodyfat by the 4th week. Tom Venuto author of the Bodyfat Solution says .5%-1% loss per week is normal for somebody who is fit and already at their goal weight.

This is not the first time I've carb cycled. I did it in 2004 and went from 121 lb. and 22% bodyfat to 117 lb. and 17% bodyfat but I had another trainer monitoring every workout and every thing that went in my mouth at the time. I also had 2 people measuring me with handheld calipers at the time. I wish I had before and afters of all that. You can read more about it in my Carb Cycling Diet guide. I also carb cycled two years ago while I was training to start back up with aerial dance.

This time I'm hoping I can stay on carb cycling for 8 weeks and possibly drop down to 15% bodyfat. Keep in mind that most fitness competitors have much more muscle mass and they compete at around 10% bodyfat so I would not come close to that type of physique and that has never been my goal.

I do not wish to be all muscular and have "ripped abs". To me that is gross looking. I DO want to look and perform like a dancer again. This is the look I'm hoping to achieve Nike Make Yourself Team Sofia. That is my natural body type. I'm naturally an ecto with some meso qualities which means I don't put on or maintain muscles easily (except in the legs) but I do gain fat easily.

For me the less visible muscle and the more strength and agility the better. We'll see what happens this time : )